University Powers up Battery Recycling Program

“Get a Charge out of Recycling” bins are located across campus to collect used batteries.

With a program called “Get a Charge out of Recycling,” Radford University is making it easier for students, faculty and staff to dispose of used batteries.

At 30 locations across campus, RU Recycling is providing brightly colored bins that separate batteries into two categories: rechargeable and non-rechargeable, or single use. Used batteries generated on campus can be dropped off at the “Get a Charge out of Recycling” bins at the following locations:

“Batteries dumped in landfills and incinerators eventually end up in our environment and the food chain, causing serious health risks to humans and animals,” said RU Recycling Coordinator Stan Wilkinson, pointing out that the most common batteries to be recycled are alkaline, carbon-zinc, lithium, nickel-cadmium (NiCd), nickel metal hydride (NiMH), button cell (lithium manganese) and lead-based.

Americans dispose of about 180,000 tons of batteries each year. About 7 percent of those batteries are non-rechargeable and include cadmium, an element particularly hazardous to humans and the groundwater near landfills.